Tail-holder.



D. BALL.

TAIL HOLDER. APPLICATION FILED APR.7.1909.

Patented Feb. '7, 1 911.

am! Jazz,

attowm o DANIEL BALL, OF WEST BURKE, VERMONT.

TAIL-HOLDER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL BALL, a cit-izen of the United States, residing at \Vest Burke, in the county of Caledonia and State of Vermont, have invented a new and useful Tail-Holder, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has relation to tail holders, and it consists in the novel construction and arrangement of its parts, as hereinafter shown and described.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple and an effective tail holder of such configuration that it may be easily and readily applied to the leg of an animal, or detached therefrom, and, when in position upon the leg, will not irritate, bind, or interfere with the free movement of the members of the animal, except the tail, and which possesses no features calculated to be a source of discomfort to the animal.

A device such as indicated may be used upon a nervous animal, and will not bind the gambrel cord, or give cause for the animal to be restless or to kick, and it is especially convenient for use by dairymen during the milking operation, particularly so at flytime.

In the accompanying drawings :-Figure 1 is a view, showing the holder applied to the leg of a cow, and confining her tail. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of one form of the holder. Fig. 3 is a plan, partly in section, of a modified form of the holder.

The holder is formed from a single wire having one end portion formed into a crook 1, which is adapted to pass around the front of the hock of the animal. The crook portion 1 merges into a coil 2. From the coil 2 the wire of which the holder is formed is continued into a tongue 3, which lies approximately parallel with the inner side of the crook portion, and which, at its extremity, is outwardly curved as at 1 and diverges from the intermediate curved portion of the crook portion 1. A band 5 (preferably of rubber) surrounds the inner end portions of the crook portion 1 and the tongue 3 and is located in the vicinity of the coil 2.

As shown in Fig. 3 of the drawing, the modification in the configuration of the holder consists in intertwining the inner end portions of the crook portion 1 and the tongue 3 at a point in the vicinity of the V Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 7, 1909.

Patented Feb. '7, 1911.

Serial No. 488,479.

coil 2, and over which intertwined portions, indicated at 6, the band 5 is located.

From the above description it is obvious that a simple and an effective tail holder is provided, and in applying the same, the crook portion 1 is slipped around the front portion of the hook of the animal, and, when so positioned, the coil 2 and the tongue 3 will be beyond the outer side of the leg, and no projecting parts will be adjacent the inner side of the leg of the animal. WVhen the holder is so positioned the wisp of the tail of the animal is passed between the tongue 3 and the adjacent side of the portion 1. In inserting the wisp as indicated, the band 5 prevents the hair from becoming tangled in the convolutions of the coil 2, and, consequently, the wisp may be readily with drawn from the holder without tearing or pulling the hair from the wisp. It will also be seen that the free end portion of the tail is secured against the outer side of the leg of the animal, and, consequently, is out of the way of any operation performed upon or by the functionary members of the animal. It will also be seen that the limbs of the animal are left free for movement, and that no discomfort is created by reason of binding the gambrel cord at the back of the leg, inasmuch as the holder is supported upon the muscular part of the hook. Thus, should an animal have a tendency to be nervous or vicious, the application of the holder will not increase such tendency.

- The coil 2 may be used as a handle for applying and removing the holder from the leg of the animal, and may also be used as a ring through which a digit may be inserted for carrying the holder from place to place, as the dairyman visits each cow.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure, by Letters Patent, is

A holder adapted especially to be used for confining the tail of a cow comprising a single piece of wire having an end portion formed into a leg-receiving opening and an intermediate coiled portion with its other end portions extending into a tongue lying directly at the side of one of the sides of the hook portion and traversing the major portion of the length thereof whereby the end portions of the wire overlap each other to av considerable extent, the configuration of the wire being such that when the hook portion is applied to the leg of an animal the tail may be confined against the side of the leg, and the adjacent portions of the Wire at one end of the hook and in the vicinity of 5 the coil being twisted upon each other and a band surrounding the twisted portion.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aflixed my signature 1n the presence of two Witnesses.

DANIEL BALL.

Witnesses J OI-IN B. WATCHIE, FRED T. PORTER. 

